Two-way interactions between organophosphorus (OP) compounds and soil microbial communities

Pesticides are applied in agro-ecosystems to reduce the impact of plant pests and pathogens on crop yield in an effort to meet the increased demand for food of Earth's growing population globally. Among the various groups of pesticides applied, organophosphorus (OP) pesticides, e.g. chlorpyrifos (CP), are the most commonly used agrochemicals for its high effectiveness against target pests. The excessive use and lack of appropriate disposal technology has resulted in the contamination of ecosystems globally (Yu et al., 2006), impacting the self-regulating capacity of the biosphere. There is also a growing concern of widespread contamination of the environment leading to potential risks to non-target organism, for example soil microbial communities (Omar and Abdel-Sater, 2001). Assessing the impact of pesticides on soil microbial communities is of importance because they play a vital role in ecosystem services and maintain soil health, which are key requirements for sustainable land use in terms of food security and environmental sustainability (Lo, 2010) . The current work aimed to unravel the two-way interactions between CP and soil microbial communities; i.e., what impacts does CP have on soil microbial functions (e.g. biodegradation) and how soil microbial communities modulate CP persistence via biodegradation. (author)